January 04, 2019

Now that it's safely past the holiday season, and there's snow on the ground and sun in the sky, I have a fast-growing distance from December, which was really quite low. I was despondent about the weather. December is always hard for this family; we want snow not just for fun but because it will reassure us that we still live on the same planet. this year--no go. Weather data confirms that we had an exceptionally gray fall followed by an exceptionally dry and snowless December. No wonder we had a hard time getting out of bed.

The other low was the despair I always feel over the constant rush and consumption of buying things in a world where we have no resources to spare. However it was compounded by a rare joy in buying things and giving them to people I love! As a consequence, my bank account has been rudely gouged and my identity as a minimizer is shaken. However my kids love me so there's a decent trade-off.

Once Christmas is imminent and the hype slows down, I love Advent. This year I played piano, accompanied others, or orchestrated Christmas music repeatedly. Lucky me. Christmas-to-New-Year's week, as always, slowed down to the point where finishing a puzzle was our highest goal. Not only were the girls home and the cousins here from California, but everyone else was hibernating too--no pressure to keep up correspondence. How desperately we all need that.

Now it's January. Snow has piled up, too much to disappear with this strange weeklong warming trend in early January. Maybe we still have the same planet. We are eager to go up rivers with participants who like to get out there the way we do, perhaps daysailers from the summer months. If you're coming up the north shore, give us a call and we'll see where to go.